Tower PC configuration

ABSTRACT

A design concept for a tower PC having an air grille formed on one side in a region of the power supply to achieve much more efficient cooling in the region of the power supply.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/437,824, filed May14, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,972,951. The application also claims thepriority, under 35 U.S.C. §119, of German patent application No. 102 24273.9, filed May 31, 2002; the prior applications are herewithincorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a design concept for a tower PC having amotherboard, a microprocessor, and a power supply with a fan in acomputer casing.

To date, most tower PCs have been configured such that the cooling airis taken in at the front of the PC and is discharged at the back by afan in the power supply.

As a result of components such as hard disks and processors becomingmore and more powerful, the evolution of heat within the PC is alsoincreasing.

In some cases, practice is now being changed to integrating anadditional fan at the back for cooling purposes.

Similarly, special fans are being used on the processors.

The additional fans increase manufacturing costs and also increase thenoise pollution by PC, and the MTBF (lifetime) is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a tower PCconfiguration that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages ofthe heretofore-known devices of this general type and that allows atower PC to be cooled more effectively.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, inaccordance with the invention, a tower PC configuration, including acomputer casing, a motherboard disposed in the computer casing, aprocessor disposed at the motherboard, a power supply having a fan, thepower supply disposed in the computer casing, and the computer casinghaving a side in a region of the power supply and a ventilation grilledisposed at the side in the region of the power supply.

Because the ventilation grille can be configured to be much larger thanat the back of the PC, a much greater cross-section is available for airto emerge, which means that the overall cooling for the interior of thePC can be made much more effective.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, maximum cooling canbe achieved by forming the ventilation grille over the entire breadth ofthe power supply.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, at the back,there is, advantageously, an air vent below the power supply, as inpreviously known models, and a fan forcing air outward can, likewise, bedisposed on this air vent to increase efficiency.

In accordance with an added feature of the invention, there is providedan air guide shroud connected to the power supply, the air guide shroudpassively cooling the processor.

In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the computercasing has an interior and heat-generating components disposed in theinterior and an airshield subdivides the interior to isolate thecomponents from the power supply and from the processor.

In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, an airshieldsubdivides the interior to isolate cooling air from the power supply onthe air guide shroud and on the processor from the components.

In accordance with yet a further feature of the invention, an airshieldsubdivides the interior to isolate the power supply and the processor.

In accordance with yet an added feature of the invention, an airshieldsubdivides the interior to isolate the power supply, the air guideshroud, and the processor.

In accordance with yet an additional feature of the invention, anairshield subdivides the interior to isolate the power supply, the airguide shroud, and the processor.

In accordance with again another feature of the invention, an airshieldsubdivides the interior and isolates cooling air from the power supplyon the processor from the components.

In accordance with again a further feature of the invention, anairshield subdivides the interior and isolates cooling air from thepower supply on the air guide shroud and on the processor from thecomponents.

In accordance with again an added feature of the invention, thecomponents are hard disks in the form of 3½″ drives or plug-in cards.

In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, the computercasing has a front, a back, a second ventilation grille at the front,and a third ventilation grille at the back below the airshield and a fanis disposed in the computer casing between the second and thirdventilation grilles and supplies a cooling air stream to cool thecomponents.

Other features that are considered as characteristic for the inventionare set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin a tower PC configuration, it is, nevertheless, not intended to belimited to the details shown because various modifications andstructural changes may be made therein without departing from the spiritof the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of theclaims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however,together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be bestunderstood from the following description of specific embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view from a side of a computer casing accordingto the invention open at the side;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the casing of FIG. 1 in a closedcondition; and

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the casing of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first,particularly to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a side view of a computercasing 1 for a tower PC whose front region contains a mounting cradle 2for 5¼″ drives 3 and, below that, a mounting cradle 4 for 3½″ drives 5.The mounting cradle 4 for the 3½″ drives 5 is disposed transversely withrespect to the top mounting cradle 2, which means that the 3½″ drivescan be inserted transversely when the side has been removed. The 3½″drives installed at this point are generally the hard disks.

Behind the two mounting cradles 2 and 4, the side that is behind thesehas the motherboard 6 disposed on it substantially at right angles, andthis motherboard has a series of slots 7 for plug-in cards 8 in itslower region.

The plug-in cards 8 are, thus, disposed horizontally and are fixed atthe back of the computer casing 1 on a slot panel 9. The top half of thecomputer casing 1 contains a power supply 10 on the back at the top, thepower supply 10 being disposed exactly behind the removed side of thecomputer casing 1. The power supply 10 has a ventilation grille 11 whichpoints toward the removed side. Disposed behind the ventilation grille11 is a non-illustrated ventilator or fan.

FIG. 2 shows a side 12 such as can be used for the computer casing shownin FIG. 1. The side 12 is distinguished in that it, likewise, has aventilation grille 13 or a means of taking in air in the region of thepower supply 10 or in the region of the ventilation grille 11 for thepower supply 10, the means of taking in air, preferably, being formedover the entire breadth of the power supply 10.

The effect of a much larger surface area being available for air toemerge from the power supply 10 as a result of the ventilation grille 13or 11 means that a much larger volume flow can be discharged from theinterior of the PC through the power supply or the fan for the powersupply 10, which increases cooling efficiency.

The large configuration of the ventilation grille 11 on the power supplyor of the ventilation grille 13 on a removable side affords the furtheradvantage that it is also possible to dispose two fans next to oneanother within the power supply.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the power supply 10 has anair guide shroud 14 connected thereto that extends over a processor 15(shown only in dashes) on the motherboard 6.

In the exemplary embodiment shown, it is, thus, possible to dispensewith a fan above the processor for the present evolution of heat fromprocessors because an adequate cooling effect is achieved passivelyusing the power supply.

For the cooling air to emerge, a further ventilation grille 16 isdisposed below the power supply 10 in the usual manner.

To keep the evolution of heat from the hard disks, which are generallyinstalled in the mounting cradle 4 as 3½″ components, away from theprocessor, the computer has an airshield 17 that is disposed between themounting cradles 2 and 4, extends over the entire breadth and length ofthe computer, and, thus, isolates the space containing the power supplyand the part of the motherboard that holds the processor 15 from the 3½″drives 5 and from the plug-in cards 8.

To ensure adequate cooling for the 3½″ drives 5 and for the plug-incards 8, the front of the computer casing has a ventilation grille 18and the back of the computer casing has a ventilation grille 19 next tothe slot panel 9.

Below the airshield 17, either between the mounting cradle 4 for the 3½″components and the plug-in cards 8 or, alternatively, between themounting cradle 4 and the front of the computer housing 1, there is afan 20 that generates an air stream for the region below the airshield17.

FIG. 3 shows the back of the computer casing shown in FIG. 1, with thepower supply 10 being shown only in dashes.

As already shown in FIG. 1, a ventilation grille 16 for air to emerge inthe top region is shown below the power supply 10, and, next to the slotpanel 9, a further ventilation grille 19 for air to enter and emerge forthe region below the airshield 17 is shown.

Above the slot panel 9, there is a plug panel 21 for the connectionsfrom external devices.

1. A tower PC configuration, comprising: a computer casing having afront face, a back face, a left side face and a right side face, saidleft and right side faces being substantially the largest sides bysurface area; a motherboard disposed in said computer casing; aprocessor disposed at said motherboard; a power supply having a fan forcooling said processor, said power supply disposed in said computercasing and having a power supply ventilation grille pointing toward oneof said left side face and said right side face; and a ventilationgrille or air vent disposed at one of said left side face and said rightside face in a region juxtaposed to said power supply ventilationgrille, said ventilation grille or air vent configured to have a largersurface area than a ventilation grille disposed at said back side. 2.The tower PC configuration according to claim 1, wherein saidventilation grille or air vent is formed over an entire breadth of saidpower supply.
 3. The tower PC configuration according to claim 1,wherein said computer casing has a second ventilation grille or air ventat said back face below said power supply.